Decisions
by Caribbean1989
Summary: "His breath hitched in his chest and he let out a muffled scream when the bullet hit him in the stomach". What if Alma Dray did shoot Danny when she had the chance? (Sorry, very bad at writing summaries...)
1. Chapter 1

He stood on top of a little wall, hands raised in surrender as he stared at the gun aimed at him. However, the taunting look Daniel Atlas gave Interpol-agent Alma Dray, told that he was only messing with her. She would never pull the trigger on an unarmed man appearing to surrender himself.

Unfortunately for Danny, Alma interpreted the situation quite differently. All she could see was one of the men the FBI had been chasing for days, one of the men who had made them all look like idiots. Seeing him look at her like she was just the next cop he would be playing a trick on, she made her decision in a split-second. She pulled the trigger and felt the recoil of her gun as she sent a bullet in Daniel Atlas' direction.

Danny's expression changed to one of shock, as he realized he had been wrong. Alma _was_ going to shoot him.  
His breath hitched in his chest and he let out a muffled scream when the bullet hit him in the stomach.  
For a moment, Danny was able to keep his balance on top of the little wall, but then started to fall backwards. With a dull thud he landed on his back on the concrete on the other side of the wall, scaring some people standing there.

He let out a groan in pain and stared up at the star-strewn sky for about half a second. Warm blood was already staining his pristine white shirt. He could hear FBI-agents yelling on the other side of the wall and he knew it would not be long before they would climb over. So he needed to get away, he needed to hide and get his wound attended to.

The Four Horsemen had agreed to split up after their latest performance and lay low for several hours, until the FBI manhunt would have somewhat died down.  
Danny would be meeting Merritt in an apartment a few blocks from where he was now. Henley and Jack would be meeting up in an apartment elsewhere in the city, to which Merritt and Danny did not even know the address.

Danny quickly scrambled to his feet, suppressing a scream of pain and clutching his stomach tightly. He immediately broke into a run, as fast as his wound allowed him to go and disappeared into the crowd of people celebrating Mardi Gras.  
The pain in his stomach was absolutely excruciating and threatened to overwhelm him, making his progress slow. It wasn't long before he was panting and black spots began blurring his vision, but he gathered up all the willpower to keep running. 'Just a few more blocks' he told himself, 'nearly there'.  
His progress was even slower because of the huge number of people out on the streets, which caused him to painfully bump into people at regular intervals.  
Finally, he rounded the last corner, the door of the apartment building already visible. His bloodstained hands searched for the key in the pockets of his trousers. When he found them, it still took him half a minute to actually open the door, for his hands were shaking so badly from pain and blood-loss.

As he stumbled into the hallway of the apartment building and closed the door behind him, he immediately sank to the ground. He half expected he would pass out right then and there. The pain had reached an all-time high, and the panting breaths he was taking did not quite seem to reach his lungs, making him dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

He turned his head to his right and looked at the wooden staircase. He still had two flights of stairs to climb, before he would actually reach the apartment. There was no other way, he had to do it. He had to reach the apartment.  
With a grunt and several whimpers, he pulled himself to his feet again. For a moment he stood at the bottom of the stairs, mustering up the strength like he was preparing to climb Mount Everest, but eventually took a deep breath and moved on.

The stairs took him a long while. He had to stop several times to catch his breath or when the pain became too much.  
Finally reaching the right floor, he was just glad that he had not run into any of the other tenants of the building. How he just hoped Merritt had arrived yet.

When he dragged himself over the threshold of the apartment and shut the door behind him, he could hear sounds from the kitchen. Thank God, Merritt indeed was here already.  
"Well, finally you're here" Merritt called from the kitchen, "you should really work on your stamina, man, I have been here for about 20 minutes now!"  
Merritt was patiently waiting for Danny to walk into the kitchen and give him some witty reply. Instead, he heard a stumble and a loud thud, like something had fallen to the ground.  
"Danny?" he called a little hesitantly, walking out of the kitchen and looking into the hallway. "Danny!" Merritt yelled as he saw his fellow Horseman.  
Danny's strength and willpower had finally given out on him and he had fallen to the ground a few feet behind the door. He was lying on his side, back turned towards Merritt.

Merritt ran the last few meters and dropped to his knees next to Danny, grabbed his shoulder and carefully rolled him onto his back. It scared him how limp Danny's body felt and the whimper in pain he gave as he was moved, made Merritt feel even more uneasy.  
It took Merritt only a second to notice the blood and the gunshot wound. "Oh my God, Danny, what happened?!"  
Danny's eyes shifted to Merritt and it took him a moment to answer. "Well, obviously… I got shot". His voice sounded broken and slurred, nothing like the waterfall of rapid speech he usually was.  
"I can see that, smart-ass" Merritt retorted, "but _what_ happened?"  
"The Interpol-lady… she kind of cornered me and shot" Danny answered with another grunt of pain.

Merritt dropped any further questions, seeing that talking cost a lot of Danny's strength and it pained him. Instead, he pulled aside Danny's jacket to have a closer look at his wound. "You need to get this attended to" he said seriously. "Just leave it" Danny answered softly, "going to a hospital now, would be like turning myself in".  
"Surely" Merritt said, "but if you do not get this treated, I do not think you'll enjoy life much longer".  
"Than so be it" Danny whispered.

Merritt did not know what to say. He had never been particularly close to Danny, but seeing the young man make the decision to just die on the floor of some shitty apartment, was not something he would allow to happen. "I'm getting you help" Merritt said determinedly and stood up.  
"So you actually don't mind being the cause of me going to prison for the rest of my life?" Danny's voice sounded hurt and disappointed and his eyes reflected pain, both physically and mentally. Merritt did not reply and merely gave Danny a stern look as he walked over to the phone in the living room.  
Danny wanted to stop him, protest, scream, punch Merritt… But he did not have the strength for it. So he just laid still and let it all happen, accepting his faith.

Merritt picked up the phone, a landline to which he just hoped the FBI hadn't tapped into. He quickly dialled a number and listened as the phone rang. It rang six times, seven times… Merritt was about to accept defeat and hang up, when a voice on the other side of the line spoke. "Hello?"  
Merritt sighed a sigh of relief. "Hello sweetie" he said, "I am in a bit of trouble, and I could kind of use your help…" 

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**Thank you all for reading :-) Reviews are appreciated  
Second chapter will be up as soon as possible.**


	2. Chapter 2

Silently, Merritt hung up the phone. He looked down into the hallway and found Danny looking back at him. A look of pure hatred was on his face as he stared at Merritt. "They'll be here as soon as possible" Merritt said softly, "now let's get you off the floor". Merritt walked in Danny's direction, but never came far. "If you touch me, I swear to God, I will kill you". Danny's eyes, usually sparkling and having a mischievous look in them, were now cold and hate-filled. Seeing that look, Merritt immediately stopped walking halfway down the hallway.  
"Danny, you're injured, quite badly I may say, you cannot just stay on the floor" Merritt said, an unusual vulnerability to the way he spoke the words, "you do not have the strength to move on your own, just let me help you". "Stay away from me" Danny nearly growled, now avoiding to look at Merritt. "Danny, listen" Merritt tried again, "it is not my intention to have you behind bars for the rest of your life, I…". "It sure doesn't look that way" Danny interrupted him, "now shut up and let me be".  
Merritt gave his fellow Horseman a sad look, before granting his wish and retreating back into the living room.

Merritt sank down on the couch. He felt very bad about just leaving Danny on the floor, but he knew it would not be much appreciated if he came anywhere near the young man now and he did not want Danny to hurt himself any further.  
In his mind, he kept going over the decision of calling help over and over again. Always he came to the same conclusion: it had been the right thing to do. No matter how much Danny hated him for it, he could not sit around and watch him die.

Meanwhile, Danny still lay where he had fallen. By now, pain and blood-loss caused him to drift in and out of consciousness. Every bone in his body ached and the hard floor definitely did not make that any better, but he did not even attempt to move into a more comfortable position.  
In the short periods of time he was awake, he though about what the future would bring for him. As soon as the paramedics would walk through that door and they had any sense of today's news, they would recognize him and inform the FBI.  
With those grim thoughts, a fresh wave of blinding pain went through his body. His breathing rate elevated even more, his hands shaking in pain. He closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to make his misery vanish. Slowly, he felt himself sink away, slipping once more into the peaceful blackness of unconsciousness. 

* * *

Danny came to with a shock. At first he did not know why panic was coursing through his body from the moment he was conscious again. Realization dawned on him as he saw Merritt appear in the hallway and walk in his direction. They were here…

"Don't bite, pitbull" Merritt said as he came closer to Danny, "I am just going to open the door". Danny avoided to look at Merritt and did not say anything. He turned his head away from the door, not needing to see the people who would be turning him in.  
"Hello sweetheart" Merritt said cheerily as he opened the door. Danny slowly turned his head back to the door to see who was there, for Merritt's greeting was strange to say the least. What he saw was not at all what he had been expecting.  
Merritt was closing the door behind a young woman carrying a large gym bag. Danny guessed she was around his own age, somewhere in the back of her twenties. She had long, blonde hair and beautiful, sparkling blue eyes. Something in her appearance was familiar to Danny, but he could not determine what or why.

As soon as she saw Danny lying on the floor, she was by his side in a flash. She quickly checked his pulse and breathing, had a closer look at his wound and asked him some simple questions.  
Danny let it all happen, but finally asked the question that had been bugging him. "Wh… Who are you?" he slurred. "Oh jeez, sorry!" she exclaimed, "my name is Sarah".  
"Sarah is an ER surgeon" Merritt broke in, "and… she is my daughter".

Even though Danny was fighting to stay conscious, his face showed the greatest surprise. He was fairly certain that none of the Horsemen, including himself, knew anything of Merritt having a daughter.  
"And… and you're a doctor" Danny stammered. She merely nodded, while Merrit spoke. "You need help" he said, "there is no doubt about that, but I will not be the reason you get locked up for the rest of your life. Sarah is a good doctor, she can help you and I know that we can trust her". Danny was speechless and suddenly felt very ashamed for everything he had accused Merritt of. "I'm sorry" he muttered after a while. "Don't sweat it" Merritt answered politely, "you have some rights, I am not the one bleeding all over the floor".  
"Yes, well, speaking of this floor" Sarah interrupted, "as your doctor, I would not recommend you lying on this filthy floor much longer. Actually, why is it you are still on the floor?" She shot Merritt a bit of an accusatory look. "He did not allow me to move him" Merritt answered, cutting the story very short.

Sarah realized that neither of the two men wanted to tell her what actually happened. "Okay, you know what?" she said, "I don't even need to hear the story, but we are moving you now". She looked down at Danny, whose face had gone even whiter at the idea of moving.

With a lot of help from Sarah and Merritt, Danny finally got to his feet. He hung with nearly his full weight on Merritt's shoulders, who supported him while slowly walking to the living room.  
Sarah was already busy there preparing the couch, so Danny would be as comfortable as possible and she could start treating his wound.

When they reached the couch, Merritt carefully helped Danny lie down. Once the young man was sort of comfortable, Merritt retreated to an armchair on the other side of the room and disappeared from view behind a newspaper.  
Sarah sat down on the edge of the couch next to Danny. "Okay, now for the hard part" she said to him, "are you ready?" Danny did not look at all ready, but slowly nodded his head anyway.  
"If at any moment, you need me to stop for a minute, just say so" Sarah said soothingly, while gathering the necessary supplies from her bag.

As Sarah carefully pulled Danny's shirt away, the full extent of his injury finally became visible. She bent forward to look closer and did not say a thing. Her hands were on Danny's stomach, gently feeling and pressing the area around the bullet-wound. As she did so, she could feel Danny constantly shaking and shivering under her hand. "Are you cold?" she asked him. "No" Danny answered softly, choking a little on the word, "I'm just… scared". 

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**Thanks again for reading. All reviews are highly appreciated :-)  
****Next chapter will be up as soon as possible**


	3. Chapter 3

**First of all, I would like to thank you all for the lovely reviews! 3  
****So, on with the next chapter, in which the other Horsemen will finally make their appearance as well. Thanks in advance for reading and the next chapter will be up as soon as possible.  
****Enjoy!**

* * *

Danny's words left Sarah speechless. She looked him right in the eye, and Danny noticed how her eyes were exactly like her father's.  
"You are scared, because for once, things are not in your control and you fear surrendering control, you fear putting your faith in other people's hands. But for tonight… I need you to trust me". Sarah's face showed that she genuinely meant every word and Danny knew that everything she said was right. After all, he _was_ control-freak. "You a mentalist?" he asked with a slight laugh. "Not really" she answered with a smile, "Dad did teach me the basics when I was a child, but I never took it any further". "You two close?" Danny asked a little hesitantly, not sure whether he could ask the question. "We lost contact for a long time. My parents split up when I was about ten years old. My mother never bothered to tell my dad where we moved to, so… well, I found him back about three years ago. Since then we have been quite close".

Silence fell between the two of them.  
"I am giving you a local anaesthetic, that should numb you up sufficiently for me to take out the bullet and stitch up the wound".  
Danny nodded wearily. "Sure, I wouldn't mind the pain going away" he said while he felt the sting of a needle in his stomach, "how bad does it look?"  
"Actually, you were very lucky" Sarah answered, "the wound is not extremely deep, no major organs or blood vessels are hit. It looks like the fabric of your shirt and jacket slowed down the bullet just enough to minimalize the damage".  
"Why does it hurt so much?" Danny asked, his energy quickly draining completely.  
"The bullet hit some of your abdominal muscles, which is a very painful place for an injury".

Danny appeared to be a little comforted by Sarah's words. He lay very still as she worked to extract the bullet from his wound. The absence of pain, which the anaesthetic numbed completely, was a bliss.  
His control freak mind wanted to follow Sarah's every move, see exactly what she was doing, but rationally he was not sure he wanted to see. In the end, he choose to close his eyes and for once let it all happen to him.

A few minutes after he had closed his eyes, Danny felt warm fingers touching his cheek. "Hey, you still with me?" Sarah asked him softly. "Yeah" Danny answered slowly, sounding very tired. He slowly opened his eyes and looked into Sarah's face, "I just could not watch you cut a bullet out of me". Danny was a little taken aback by the smile she gave him, for it resembled Merritt's nearly exactly.  
"Well, you can watch now, it's out. I just have to clean the wound, a few stitches and then you should be fine for tonight".

Danny let out a huge sigh in relief upon hearing the words. "Thank you" he whispered, slowly closing his eyes again. He silently listened to the sounds of Sarah treating his wound: the sound of water, scissors, tape…  
When the sounds stopped after a while and he opened his eyes to look down at his stomach, the wound was neatly bandaged and the only blood that could still be seen was the stain on his shirt.

Sarah had unfolded a fleece blanket and was covering Danny up with it, making sure he was warm enough. Danny felt extremely drowsy, the absence of pain and the events of the past evening were finally taking its toll on him. "Now what?" he asked softly. "I am going to start an IV, we need to get some fluids and painkillers into you, but most importantly you need to sleep" Sarah answered. "That will not be a problem" Danny said, letting out a deep, sleepy sigh as he closed his eyes. He felt Sarah take his hand and felt the sting of the needle when she brought in the IV. Those were the last things he realized, before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Sarah hung the IV bag on a make-shift pole, for which they used and old standing lamp. She looked down at Danny's peacefully sleeping form. The morphine was starting to do its work and would be numbing the pain once the anaesthetic wore off, allowing him to sleep without interruptions.  
Seeing Danny would probably not wake again up anytime soon, Sarah left him alone and sat down on the chair opposite Merritt.

For a few minutes neither of them spoke.  
"Thank you for coming" Merritt said finally, breaking the silence. "Anytime" Sarah answered, "there never was a doubt in my mind when you called me".  
Merritt did not really know what to say, so he simply looked at his daughter, a loving smile on his face.  
"Speaking of phone calls" Merritt suddenly said, "I should probably inform Jack and Henley about what happened". Sarah nodded wordlessly and could see that Merritt was not particularly looking forward to making that call.  
Merritt picked up the wireless phone from the charger and quickly dialled a number. As the phone rang, Merritt put it on speaker, so Sarah was able to hear the other side of the conversation as well.

"Hello?" a voice said a bit hesitantly on the other side of the line. "Henley, it's me" Merritt said.  
"Oh God, Merritt, it's good to hear you. Did you guys get away safely?" Henley immediately asked. "Yes, I did…" Merritt said, falling silent. Off course, Henley instantly realized something was wrong. "Merritt?" she asked, fear sounding in her voice, "what is going on?" Merritt hesitated and allowed a few moments of silence before answering. "It's Danny" he finally said, "he's been shot".

A hysterical shriek sounded from the phone, followed by the sound of uncontrolled sobs.  
"Henley?! What's wrong?" Jack could be heard saying. The sound of his voice growing louder as he spoke the words, like he was moving towards her.  
"Danny… he's been… shot" Henley said in a thick, tearful voice, choking on sobs. "Oh no…" was all Jack was able to bring out, sounding very shocked by the news.

No one spoke for a full minute, the only sounds coming from Henley's sobs.  
"Merritt?" it finally sounded from the other side of the line. "Hey Jack" Merritt said, sounding very tired and worn out. "What happened?" Jack asked. "You remember that Interpol agent from France, Alma Dray? Well, she shot him in the stomach when he was escaping from the theatre" Merritt answered. Upon hearing this, Jack said something very foul-mouthed about Alma, to which Merritt raised an eyebrow in surprise. Never before had he heard such words from Jack.  
"What are we going to do now?" Henley asked, clearly they had switched to speaker-phone as well.  
"For now we stick to the original plan" Merritt said, "I know someone here who we can trust, she's been taking care of him. We did all we could. For now, we'll just have to wait and see how it develops".

Renewed sobs from Henley sounded through the phone.  
Sarah turned in her seat and looked around at Danny. Henley's distressed sounds caused him to let out a soft groan and stir under his blankets, almost as if he himself was uneasy with her level of distress. For a moment she feared Danny was woken up by the sounds from his fellow Horseman, but luckily he slept on after these brief signs of life.

"Merritt?" Henley's voice sounded broken, "is he… is he going to be alright? I mean, he… he won't… die, will he?"  
Merritt looked questioningly at Sarah, clearly not knowing how to answer truthfully. There too was the slightest hesitation and fear. Would he want to be answering truthfully?  
Sarah gave him a small smile and nodded her head. Merritt sighed shortly in relief before answering Henley. "He'll be alright".


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as the line disconnected, Henley allowed herself to sink down on a chair. She sat there, staring into nothingness, silent tears still streaming down her face.  
Jack still stood next to the table where the phone lay, a look of utter shock on his face.  
Even though Merritt had assured them that Danny would be fine in the end, the news of him being shot had shaken Jack and Henley to their very core. It made them realize more than ever what the FBI and Interpol were ready to do to arrest the Four Horsemen.

Jack shook his head to clear his mind of those thoughts and turned around to Henley. It was obvious that she was struggling with the entire situation.  
He walked over to her and sat down on the ground next to her chair, placing a hand on her forearm.  
"You heard Merritt, he'll be fine" Jack said soothingly.  
"But still" Henley answered softly, "they shot him, they could easily have killed him. And now he's injured and in pain, and there's nothing I can do…"  
"Don't worry" Jack immediately said in an attempt to comfort her, " Merritt said they had help, I am certain they'll be taking good care of him". Henley slowly turned her head to look at Jack and he instantly realized he had said something wrong. "But it's not about that at all, is it?" Jack nearly whispered, avoiding to look at Henley now. Henley shook her head, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. "No" she said in a thick voice, "they could have gone to the best hospital in the world, and it would not make a difference for me… because I am not there with him…".

Jack felt incredibly stupid and stayed silent.  
Henley noticed and gently leaned forward to place a quick kiss on the top of his head. "It's okay" she said, "you did nothing wrong". After this she gracefully rose to her feet. Jack looked at her questioningly, but stayed seated on the ground.  
"I'm going off to bed" she said, "see you in the morning". Jack knew that Henley would not be able to get one minute of sleep this night and that this merely was an excuse to be alone. He respected that and watched her as she retreated to the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her.  
Jack, too, stood up and walked over to the couch, picking up a deck of cards on the way over. Since the apartment had only one bedroom, he would be sleeping here tonight.

Lying on his back on the couch, he forced himself to close his eyes, while his hands automatically played with the cards. Like Henley he would probably not get a lot of sleep.  
Jack had always idolized Danny, and working closely together with him had not changed his mind. On the contrary, his respect and admiration for Danny's endless energy, skill and showmanship had only grown. He briefly opened his eyes to glimpse at his watch. 11.30 pm. It was going to be a long night… 

* * *

After they had hung up the phone, Merritt and Sarah had started talking in hushed voices to prevent waking up Danny.  
Ever since the Four Horsemen had gotten the anonymous assignment and had started the preparations for their shows, Merritt and Sarah had not seen each other a lot, though they did have regular contact over the phone. Their anonymous employer had known about Merritt being in contact with his daughter right from the start. Merritt had been instructed not to tell her anything about their plans, to which he had agreed. Not wanting to lose the contact with Sarah again.

The year with very little face-to-face contact left them both with lots of stories to tell, on which they were catching up quickly now. Sarah told Merritt about life in New Orleans and her work in the ER of the largest hospital in the city, while Merritt told Sarah a little more of the Four Horsemen and their shows so far. Still, he evaded to tell her about their anonymous employer, the Eye, the stolen money or any further inside details on their shows.  
Sarah was baffled by so much mystery and asked a lot of questions to which Merritt would not give her an answer. In the end, Sarah decided to give up on it completely and they switched to more every day topics.

They talked till the early morning. Like Sarah had predicted, Danny did not wake up once. He lay completely still, head fallen to the side, facing Merritt and Sarah. His hand with the IV-line in it rested across his chest, slowly moving up and down with the rhythm of his breathing.  
It was around 2.30 am when Sarah stood up from her chair. "I should go. Work tomorrow" she said. Merritt nodded wordlessly. He had a good time sitting and just talking to his daughter, but understood why she had to leave.  
Sarah walked over to Danny to check up on him one more time before leaving. She felt his strong, steady heartbeat as she gently pressed her fingers against his neck. His breathing was deep and regular. She too had another look at the bandaged wound, which looked clean, indicating the wound had not started bleeding again, Lastly, she changed the nearly empty IV-bag for a full one.

"He's doing fine" Sarah said, turning to Merritt, "I don't know what your plans are, but try to let him sleep as long as possible. He needs to rest a lot. Be careful with those stitches, you don't want to tear them. Once this IV-bag is empty, you can take it out. Keep a sharp eye on the wound for new bleeding and possible infection".  
"Will do" Merritt answered. "Oh, I nearly forgot" Sarah suddenly said, taking a small pot of pills from her bag and giving them to Merritt. "Painkillers for once the IV is out" she said, "one pill every eight hours, if necessary". Merritt wordlessly accepted the pills from Sarah.  
"Alright, that's all, I think" she said, "if you need any more help, just call me". Merritt took a few steps forward and embraced his daughter tightly. "Thank you for everything" he whispered, "and it was good to see you again".  
"You're welcome and likewise" she answered as Merritt broke their embrace. Sarah carefully kissed Merritt on the cheek, before turning around and walking out of the apartment. 

* * *

Dylan sat alone at the bar, drinking his third glass of whiskey. The alcohol had no effect on him yet, he needed a lot more to actually get drunk.

His mind pondered over everything that had happened that evening. When Alma had told him she had been able to shoot Daniel Atlas and that he still had managed to escape, he had angrily yelled at her for about five minutes. He had told her it was unacceptable that she had allowed an injured man to escape.  
Off course, that was not really true. He had mostly been angry with her for actually shooting Danny in the first place and thus jeopardizing his plans. But, naturally, he could not tell her that.

Dylan emptied his glass and looked at his phone. It was way too late already and tomorrow would be another busy day.  
He was just beginning to wonder why he had not yet gotten the message he was expecting, when his phone rang, indicating he had received a text message. He picked up the phone and quickly read the message, a smile broadening on his face.

'_Daniel is fine. Do not worry. Everything will proceed as planned. See you in The Big Apple"_

"Now, finally, there's some good news" Dylan quietly said to himself, as he walked out of the bar to go back to his apartment. 

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**Thanks again for reading. Thanks too for all the lovely reviews so far. Still love to read your thoughts on the story! :-)  
****Next chapter will be up as soon as possible.**


	5. Chapter 5

Danny woke up with a shock. For a few seconds he did not know where he was, but everything quickly came back to him. He sighed deeply. In the last few minutes of his sleep he had been reliving the chase and the shooting. The panic he had felt in the actual moment, coursing through his body again. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, which soon had the desired effect.

Finally Danny looked around a little closer. He noticed his hand resting on his chest, IV-line still in it. The pain was still blissfully absent, for which he was grateful.  
He allowed his eyes to scan around the room. Merritt sat slumped in a comfortable armchair, deep asleep and snoring with quite some volume. Danny smiled a little to himself. He had always considered Merritt to be someone who snored and was quite amused to see he was right. Sarah was nowhere to be seen, so he figured she must have left. He made a mental note to himself to thank her once more for her help, should he ever see her again.

Danny tried to determine what time it was. He did not wear a watch and there was no clock in the apartment, so he had to guess. He could just see a patch of sky through the half-closed curtains. The sky had a dark-blue colour, the darkest of the night had already passed. Danny figured it was about an hour from sunrise. He yawned and rested his head back against the cushions of the couch. No matter what the time exactly was, it seemed like he still had time for a few hours of glorious sleep… 

* * *

Henley had not had one minute of sleep, like she had already expected. She had definitely tried, closing her eyes and forcing herself to empty her mind. Despite her endless efforts, visions of Danny bleeding heavily and screaming in pain invaded her mind.  
Finally, she decided to give up on it. She stood up from the bed and quickly got dressed. The alarm clock on the nightstand told her it was 5.30 am. Early, but anything was better than lying in this bed and letting these torturous images into her mind.

She silently opened the door, poked her head through the opening and looked around the living room. The first faint rays of sunlight shone into the room. Jack lay on his side on the couch, facing her, asleep. One arm dangled over the edge of the couch, fingers nearly touching the floor. Some playing cards were strewn across the floor just beneath his fingers, like he had been holding them when falling asleep. A small smile crossed Henley's face at seeing this peaceful image.  
She quietly closed the bedroom door behind her. As soon as the door softly clicked closed, Jack shot awake, instantly sitting upright. "What?!" he blurted out, "any news?"  
Henley could not help but chuckle, for it certainly had looked funny. "Good morning" she said, " no, no further news".

Jack rubbed his eyes sleepily, as Henley walked over to the kitchenette to make some coffee.  
"Jack!" she suddenly said urgently, to which he jumped up and ran over to her. It was immediately clear what Henley meant. A fresh pot of coffee sat on the kitchen table, with a neat, white envelop propped up against it. "What the…" was all Jack could say.  
"You mean you didn't do this?" Henley asked, looking at Jack in shock. "No, I didn't" Jack answered wide-eyed, "should we open it?" Henley shrugged, "I think so…"

Jack carefully picked up the envelop, half-expecting something to happen right away.  
He slowly pulled a piece of paper out, the size of a postcard. It showed a map, marked with a red X, a time and something that looked like a licence plate number. It appeared to be from their anonymous employer.  
"Looks like we have to go there" Henley said, "the map shows this block". Jack nodded his head. "10 am. Then we'll know more". 

* * *

"Danny. Come on, man, wake up". Merritt was carefully shaking his shoulder as Danny opened his eyes. "Good morning" Merritt continued, seeing Danny waking up, "we have further instructions, we have to leave in 20 minutes". Danny yawned widely and slowly sat upright, which went with a lot less pain than he'd been expecting.  
"Where do we need to go?" he asked. "Just down the block. Looks like there will be a driver waiting" Merritt said as he threw the envelop at Danny. They too had received a postcard-map, marked with a location, time and licence plate number.  
"How're you feeling?" Merritt suddenly asked, looking at Danny with a little concern showing is his eyes. "Given the circumstances, fine I guess" Danny answered. "Can you handle the trip?" Merritt asked carefully. "Sure" was all Danny said.

Danny slowly rose to his feet, feeling a little dizzy when he first stood, but luckily that passed quickly.  
He carefully took off his bloodied shirt and changed into a more casual looking t-shirt. Merritt was rummaging around the apartment, picking up their belongings. Finally he looked around at Danny. "You ready?". Danny looked up at him, determination clear in his entire being. "Let's do this". 

* * *

At exactly 10 am Jack and Henley stood waiting at the indicated spot, looking for a car with the licence plate number they had been given via the postcard.  
Henley could tell Jack was nervous by the way he was frantically looking around. She herself could feel the nerves too. A reunion with Danny was getting closer and she was dying to see him.  
"There!" Jack suddenly cried out, pointing towards a cab. And indeed, the cab that approached them, bore the licence plates they had been given.

As the cab stopped in front of them, Jack immediately opened the door. "Ms. Reeves and Mr. Wilder?" the driver asked. Jack nodded and they quickly stepped into the car. "New Orleans airport, private jet section?" the driver asked. "I guess so" Henley answered. Apparently a private plane was waiting to take them back to New York…

The cab-ride felt like it took an age. The traffic was quite bad, making their progress slow.  
They assumed Merritt and Danny would be flying back with the same plane, and both Jack and Henley were keen on their reunion with the other Horsemen.  
Jack eyed Henley suspiciously, for she looked quite pale. "You alright?" he asked her. "I will be a lot better when Danny tells me, straight to my face, that he will be fine" she answered quietly, voice tense.

After some more traffic jams, traffic lights and other kinds of delay, the cab finally took the final turn and drove onto New Orleans airport in the direction of the private jet section.  
It stopped close to a medium-sized airplane, engines already roaring and stairs ready for them to enter.  
Jack made to pay the driver, but he waved it away. "Has all been arranged" the driver said.  
For a moment Jack and Henley looked at him in surprise, but then quickly got out of the car.

As the cab started to drive away. Henley ran over to the stairs to enter the plane and started to climb up, followed closely by Jack.  
When she entered, her eyes immediately scanned around the interior of the plane, but she only found Merritt. "Where is he?" she blurted out, a little hysterics sounding through in her voice. "Calm down" Merritt responded, "he's right there". He pointed over his shoulder to the back of the plane. Henley dropped her bag on the floor, pushed past Merritt and hurried to the other end of the plane.

Danny had heard Jack and Henley come in and had just risen to his feet when Henley reached him. She hesitated a few seconds, but then rushed forward and flung her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She had no actual words to express her feelings, so she just poured it all into the embrace.  
Danny let out a soft groan, for Henley accidentally bumped into his wound. "Henley" he said softly, "it's good to see you too, but… bullet-wound here".  
Henley immediately let go of Danny. "Sorry" she muttered, while quickly wiping her cheeks, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.  
"Good to see you, Danny" Jack said, as he too walked over to Danny. "Thanks, and you" Danny answered.  
Jack knew Henley would probably want some time alone with Danny, so let them be and choose a seat in the middle of the plane. Merritt sitting down opposite him.

Danny took up his seat at the window again, while Henley took the aisle seat next to him.  
The pilot's voice came over the intercom, informing them that they had been cleared for take-off within several minutes and if everybody would be so kind to take up their seats and fasten their seatbelts.  
Henley looked closer at Danny, while he stared out of the window. He sat a little slumped, hands folded across his chest, elbows resting on the arm rests. His face wore a tired expression.  
"How're you feeling?" Henley asked concernedly, while her fingers gently reached for Danny's arm. "Okay" Danny simply answered, sounding fatigued. Apparently the trip to the airport had cost him a lot of energy. "You think you will be able to do the show?" Henley asked. Danny turned his head and looked her right in the eye. "I must" he answered, determination clear in his voice and eyes.

The plane slowly started moving and started to taxi in the direction of the appointed runway. Henley looked around her seat at where Jack and Merritt were sitting. They were deeply engaged in a conversation of their own. She caught the words 'FBI' and 'gun', so she figured they were discussing the shooting. She smiled a little to herself as she heard Jack curse Alma Dray again.  
"Boys" she sighed with a smile, while sitting straight again. She wanted to say something to Danny about it, but found he was already deep asleep again. He had leaned his head against the window, looking peaceful. Henley carefully shifted into a more comfortable position, preparing for the flight and gently let her head rest against Danny's shoulder and upper arm. Feeling his body warmth and hearing his slow, deep breathing, she was assured of his well-being and finally found the peace to fall asleep too. 

* * *

Neither of the Four Horsemen noticed the person watching them as their plane taxied away and eventually took off.  
As the plane's wheels lost their contact with the ground, the person's phone rang.  
"Detective Rhodes" the person said into the phone, "just the person I needed to talk to. The plane just left, they're on their way to New York". There was a short silence as the person listened to Dylan talking over the phone. "Alright" the person finally said, "see you tonight at Grand Central, 10 pm". 

* * *

**Thanks again for reading. Reviews are highly appreciated :-)  
****Next chapter will be up a.s.a.p.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

Dylan took up his seat next to Alma with a deep sigh. The plane to New York was only slowly filling up with the other passengers.  
"I do hope they're right about these Horsemen being in New York" he said. Alma looked at him with a laugh, "they're your people". Dylan did not respond to that and choose not to take her comment the wrong way. "Besides" Alma continued, "the Horsemen cloned your phone and kept the real one all this time. It makes sense to assume they still have it. The phone is in New York, I am certain they are too". Dylan merely nodded to indicate he believed her to be right.

In his mind Dylan was off course 100% certain the Horsemen were in New York, he even knew their exact location. He had been able to sneak a message to them, to inform them of the estimated time of arrival of the FBI. He had left them with some further instructions and just hoped everything would go as planned.  
He knew the Horsemen's private plane had landed in New York already two hours ago, so they had a good head-start. Dylan had arranged their escape from New Orleans from start to finish. He had arranged the private plane, had bribed two cabdrivers to secretly drive them to the airport and had broken into two different apartments to plant the envelops with information. It had been tricky, but he had been successful.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Dylan's train of thought was broken by Alma's words and a soft punch to the arm. "Sorry" he said, "I'm listening now".  
Alma continued talking about the Horsemen and what she suspected to be their motives. Dylan only listened half, his mind more occupied with the Horsemen's next move. 

* * *

"Are we sure about this?" Jack asked his fellow Horsemen, "I mean our employer's plans never said anything about one of us faking our own death".  
The Horsemen were back in their apartment in New York, going over the details of their show of the following day and cleaning up for the FBI-raid they knew was coming.  
Danny sat on the couch, legs outstretched on the seat as well. Henley sat on a chair next to the couch. Together she and Danny were filtering through a large pile of papers, deciding what needed to be destroyed and what could be left for the police to find. Merritt was rummaging through a cupboard, deciding on the same faith of the items in there.

"Don't you think it will look suspicious if one of us just doesn't turn up for our own show?" Danny said, answering Jack's remark, "trust me, it is the best way to do this".  
"Relax Jack" Merritt brought in, "you're not dying for real".  
"Yes, thanks Merritt" Jack said sarcastically, "I understand the concept of _faking_ my own death".  
"Guys, just stop this" Henley suddenly said sharply, "we have discussed this before, we agreed on this, so this is how it will be done". The three men looked at her a little surprised. "Sorry" Jack said, "you're right".

Out of the blue, the computer on the desk started blaring. "That's the firewall breach" Henley said, standing up and walking over to the computer, "they'll be here any minute now".  
Danny threw a stack of papers at Jack, who caught it effortlessly. "These need to be burned, the rest can be left" Danny said.

Merritt had walked over to the window and was peering through the blinds, keeping a close eye on the street below. Traffic was quite slow, some pedestrians, a bike messenger. A cabdriver honked his horn as the bike messenger suddenly appeared in front of his wheels. On the sidewalk a person talking on the phone, wearing a sweater with the hood up, turned around to look at what was happening. For just a second, Merritt could see the face. "What the…" he said taking a step back from the window, shock etched on his face. "Are they here?" Henley asked with a little fear in her voice. "No" Merritt answered immediately, "I thought I saw… someone I knew, but that's impossible".  
Merritt peered through the blinds again, but the hooded person was gone.

"Come on, we need to go" Henley said, while giving Danny a hand and helping him to his feet. Merritt walked away from the window. "You know what to do, Jack" he said, "you can do this, don't worry". Jack nodded wordlessly and watched as his fellow Horsemen left the apartment, leaving him alone.  
As soon as the door closed, Jack picked up the stack of papers that still needed to be burned and started throwing them in the hearth.  
He could hear the tires of several cars screech to a halt on the street below, and the entire surroundings had gone eerily quiet. This must mean the FBI was here.  
Jack quickly threw the last of the papers into the fire, and retreated to the hiding place he had scouted out on top of a wardrobe in a corner of the room. Then he waited… waited for the FBI to enter the apartment. 

* * *

Through the garbage chute Merritt, Henley and Danny slid down towards the basement of the apartment building. Danny's feet hit the ground much harder than he was expecting as he exited the chute. A wave of blinding pain shot through his stomach and he fell to his knees on the ground, eyes closed, holding his wound gently and breathing heavily.  
"Oh God, Danny!" Henley exclaimed and knelt down in front of him, hands on his shoulders. "Are you okay?" she asked, fear in her voice. Danny slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. She could see his eyes watered a little in pain. "I think I tore a stitch, but I'll be okay" he answered.  
Danny knew they had no time to lose, so he bit through the pain and quickly scrambled to his feet, following Merritt and Henley at a run.

They took the back exit of the apartment building. The police was nowhere to be seen. As soon as they reached the street, Merritt hailed a cab. One immediately steered to the sidewalk and stopped in front of the three of them. They quickly got in and let the apartment building and the FBI behind them. 

* * *

The cab dropped Henley, Merritt and Danny off on the corner of a street in the east part of New York. From there it was a short walk to the small warehouse where they were keeping their things for the moment.

In the warehouse they quickly changed into other clothes and put on some disguises, just to be sure. Danny carefully examined his wound. He had badly angered it when landing on the bottom of the chute, but it appeared all stitches were still intact. He sighed in relief and turned around to the other two Horsemen. The moment he was face to face with Henley, she burst out laughing and Merritt soon joined in. "What?" Danny asked. "No nothing, moustache-man, looking good" Merritt answered, still with a big smile on his face. "I could have known it was about that" Danny sighed, regarding the fake moustache he was wearing. "I'm sorry" Henley answered, "but it just looks really weird on you". Danny did not answer, but just raised his eyebrows for a moment and rolled his eyes.

" Come on" Merritt urged Danny and Henley, while getting into the would be driving.  
"You'll be okay driving?" Henley asked Danny. "Stop worrying about me, I'll be fine" Danny answered a little sternly. Henley gave him a disapproving look before getting into her car. Lastly, Danny took up the driver's seat of a cab.  
The three cars rode out of the warehouse on their way to one of New York's main roads to set their plan in motion. 

* * *

Dylan's heart skipped a few beats as he saw the car in front of them hit the railing and flip over. It rolled over many times before finally sliding to a halt in a heap of crushed and burning metal.  
Alma stomped on the brake, stopping their car about a 100 yards from the burning vehicle. Dylan jumped out and immediately ran over to the wreck. He knew deep down that it was unlikely for the driver to have survived a crash like that, but he just did not want to believe it. This was not good, this had not been his plan, he never intended any of the Horsemen to die for him.

Reaching the wreck, Dylan instantly attempted to pull out the driver. He just would not believe that this was Jack Wilder. The crash had badly damaged the driver's body and the flames of the fire were already licking his skin.  
Dylan used all of his power to try and pull the body out, but it was to no avail. He vaguely became aware of someone yelling at him and pulling his jacket. "… explode!" That was the only word Dylan registered the other FBI-agent yelling at him. He was right, the car would probably explode soon. Dylan took one last pained look at the body. "I'm sorry" he muttered, before jumping to his feet and running away from the wreck in search for cover.

The car exploded with an almighty sound. Henley, Merritt and Danny could each see the black cloud of smoke rising up from the wreck in their rear-view mirrors. They, off course, knew that Jack had not been in that car. Their plan had worked. They would be driving back to the warehouse where they had picked up the cars and would stay there until the show of tomorrow.  
Jack had already taken the exit off the main road and had driven into a quiet part of the city. He would be lying low for several hours and as soon as darkness had set in he would be going to the warehouse where the safe was kept. The safe that was their final target… 

* * *

Dylan had never felt more miserable in his entire life. Someone had died today because of him, because of what he had asked him to do.  
He was sitting alone on a bench in the main hall of New York's Grand Central Station. He checked his watch, 9.55 pm. He was five minutes early, so he waited.  
No matter how hard he tried not to, the images of Jack Wilder in the car, so damaged and burned that he had become unrecognizable, would not leave his mind's eye.

Dylan buried his face in his hands in complete misery.  
Sitting like that, he completely missed the person walking towards him. He only looked up when he felt someone sitting down next to him on the bench. "Oh, you're here" he said, re-burying his face in his hands when he recognized the person. For a while nothing was said.

"Sarah" Dylan suddenly spoke, addressing the person sitting next to him, "when I asked you to help me set my plan in motion, did you ever think someone would die for it?"  
Sarah seemed to think hard on her answer. "Well, it's not exactly legal what we're doing" she said, "but I never expected someone to die… and nobody did die".

Dylan's head snapped up. He looked at Sarah with a look of utter shock and disbelief on his face. "Come again?" he said. "Jack Wilder did not die" Sarah answered, "his death was just part of their plan". Dylan looked at her like he had just seen a whole horde of ghosts, completely speechless.  
"How do you know?" he asked in the end. "Because I saw him. At the warehouse where that safe is kept. He's probably hiding out there until your men discover the safe is gone, waiting for his chance to strike".

Sarah stood up, looking down on Dylan. "Don't worry, he doesn't have a scratch on him. Everything is still as you want it to be". Dylan sighed in relief. "Phew, they scared me, for real".  
Sarah smiled, "I can see that". There was a short silence between the two of them. "Hey, Sarah" Dylan suddenly said before she could walk away, "it's good to have you by my side in all this". 

* * *

**Thanks again for reading. All reviews are still appreciated :-)  
****Next chapter will be up as soon as possible!**


	7. Chapter 7

**First of all, I apologize for the long time since the last update!  
****Some family emergency and I had to go away unexpectantly... So, anyway, I'm back now and here's a new chapter for you. This is the penultimate chapter, the final one will be up as soon as possible  
****Still, all reviews are appreciated and enjoy reading! :-)**

* * *

"It certainly does look cool" Merritt commented. He, Danny and Henley were at Five Pointz, where they would be giving their final show that night. They were watching the news broadcast of the car chase and -crash on a laptop. "Yeah, couldn't have been done better" Henley added. "Let's hope the rest of the plan goes as well as this" Danny said.  
The three remaining Horsemen had broadcasted their Youtube video, announcing their final show, about an hour ago. Already they could hear people gathering outside, not wanting to miss the Horsemen's final performance.

Henley cast a nervous glance at Danny, who sat on a chair a little away from her. She had noticed a slight tremble in his hands and he had gone quite pale in the last hour or so. She feared he had overexerted himself today, but did not confront him with it, wanting to avoid a fight. Also, she knew there was no way Danny would sit this show out. So, she decided to let him be. For now he had a couple of hours rest before the show would start. She just hoped that was enough...

* * *

"Where's the safe?!" The FBI agents stormed into the Elkhorn warehouse. The safe they had expected to find was nowhere to be seen. "Where is it?!" Dylan yelled again, turning to the security guards of Elkhorn.  
"About 20 minutes ago we received orders to load up the safe and bring it to Five Pointz" one of the security guards said innocently. "Five Pointz?" Dylan repeated. The guard merely nodded, almost as if he were afraid someone would attack him if he said anything further.  
"Who gave you orders for that?!" Dylan continued. "He did" the guard answered with a nod of the head toward Detective Evans. "No, that's bullshit" Dylan blurted out.

Immediately, Evans froze up and within seconds he was deeply engaged in passionately playing an imaginary violin. Everyone looked at him in shock and disbelief. "Well, that explains it" Dylan sighed before turning around and storming out of the warehouse.  
"We need to stop that truck, now!" he angrily called over his shoulder. The agents and security personnel followed him at a run, leaving the warehouse empty. As they marched out everyone was oblivious to the figure hiding in a dark corner, behind some smaller safes, close to the only door to the warehouse...

* * *

Breaking into the Elkhorn warehouse was simple. For a company specializing in safes, they sure used crappy locks and security systems to protect their property.  
After de-activating the alarm, Jack carefully sneaked into the warehouse. He activated the alarm again from the inside, so it looked like no-one ever entered. He had already scouted out a good hiding place earlier, behind some safes in a dark part of the warehouse.  
The security guards had loaded the safe, which Jack knew was fake, into a truck five minutes ago.  
Jack's skills in voice-imitation had come in handy here. He had phoned the company, impersonating Detective Evans, to order the relocation of the safe to Five Pointz for security reasons. They hadn't even thought twice and immediately complied.  
It would not be long now before the FBI was here too. After all, the document leading them here had purposefully been left in the wreck of the burning car.  
And indeed, several cars could be heard braking outside, running footsteps, the sound of guns being drawn. As he heard the beeps of the alarm code being entered, Jack made himself as small as possible. He listened and kept very quiet as the agents ran into the warehouse.

"Where's the safe?!" Jack recognized Dylan's voice and knew that it would probably not be long before he used his favorite curse word again.  
"No, that's bullshit!" Dylan's voice echoed through the warehouse. The shocked sounds of the other agents told Jack that Detective Evans had started his violin routine, like he was supposed to upon hearing that word.  
Stomping footsteps and the door being slammed and the warehouse was once again deserted. Except for Detective Evans, but he wasn't much of a threat at the moment. He was 'programmed' to complete a concert of two hours before returning to normal again. This was Jack's cue to slowly rise up from his hiding place and start his work.

* * *

Henley quietly got dressed for the show, which would be starting in about 15 minutes. She cast a careful glance over her shoulder at Danny. He was clumsily putting on his shirt, fighting with one of the sleeves. Henley's eyes were drawn to the bandage on his stomach. She swallowed hard. No matter what Danny told her, she knew the wound hurt like hell and that he was probably constantly biting through the pain.  
Finally he managed to properly put his shirt on and noticed Henley watching him. "What?" he asked her with a smile. Henley quickly averted her gaze. "Nothing" she mumbled.

"Alright, ready to go?" Merritt asked the others. "Sure" Danny answered, buttoning the last button of his shirt. Henley looked around to see if she had left anything of importance. "Okay, ready" she finally said.  
The three of them walked out of the room. Through seemingly endless corridors of the abandoned building they reached another large office room. Here, three projectors stood ready in the centre, one for each Horseman. Merritt, Henley and Danny took up their positions in front of them. They could hear the roars and cheers from the large crowd outside as the lightshow started. Henley took a deep breath to calm her nerves and looked from Danny to Merritt. "Here we go, boys" she said, "one last time".

* * *

He gave the sledgehammer an almighty swing before letting it go. With a deafening crash it hit the large mirror hiding the real safe from view, shattering it into a million pieces. He smiled to himself as the safe appeared. Jack glanced over his shoulder at Evans, still performing his solo violin concert, before stepping forward to apply the explosives onto the safe.

After the explosives had done their job, the door of the safe fell to the floor like a cheap microwave door.  
"Wo-ow" Jack whispered to himself, unable to contain his enthusiasm at knowing he had pulled off the trick. Quickly he reached for the bags he had brought and started loading them up with the money from the safe.

"You know, if I were a cop, you'd be in big trouble now" a woman's voice behind Jack suddenly spoke. Her voice echoed eerily through the nearly empty warehouse.  
Jack spun round, dropping the bags, cards at the ready to throw at whoever was coming for him.  
Seeing the woman who had spoken, he was a little taken aback, for she did not at all look menacing or threatening.  
"Who are you?" Jack demanded to know. Instead of answering she took a few steps in his direction. Jack raised his cards higher, ready to strike. "Stop it" she said a little tauntingly, "I know that trick quite well myself. My name is Sarah and I know you are Jack Wilder and I know why you're here".

Jack shamelessly stared at her for a full minute, unable to utter a single word. He took in everything about her: her blonde hair that reached to just over her shoulders, her sparkling blue eyes, the hooded sweater she wore. "You have a last name?" he finally asked. "McKinney" she answered.  
Jack's eyes widened to unhealthy size upon hearing the name. "As in Merritt McKinney?" he asked. "Absolutely, he's my dad" she answered. "So, are you... our... employer?" Jack stammered.  
"No, no, I'm not. I do know who it is though, which I am not going to tell you, that's something he must do himself. I am here to help you plant that money in Thaddeus' car".  
Jack hesitated. His gut told him that he could trust her, but his mind told him to be careful. Could he trust her? Her eyes were exactly like Merritt's and she had the same vague Texan accent, so it looked like she was telling the truth about being related to him. And she knew that he was supposed to frame Thaddeus, using the stolen money.  
Jack finally nodded his head and smiled a little nervously as he decided to go with his gut-feeling for once.

* * *

The first part of the show had gone well, but that hadn't been the tricky part. They had just performed in front of some projectors, most of the illusions were created using light and projections, but now they would soon be really appearing in front of the audience.

The freight elevator was taking them to the roof, from which they would be performing tonight's greatest illusion. Merritt, Henley and Danny had been talking, but had now fallen silent.  
Danny stood in one of the corners of the elevator. His eyes were unfocussed, seemingly lost in thought.  
Henley noticed he was still quite pale and the tremble in his hands had become more pronounced, which made her worry even more about his well-being. As soon as the show had started Danny's showmanship had taken over and you could hardly tell the difference from usual. But the rest of the show was not what was worrying Henley most. She worried more about the state Danny would be in after the show had finished and they had escaped Five Pointz...

The elevator stopped with a shock and the three of them stepped out. They were on the top floor of the building, a short flight of stairs being the only thing still separating them from the roof.  
A massive cheer rose up from the audience as the Three Horsemen appeared on the roof. The blinding lights had been obscuring their entrance, making it look like they just appeared out of nothing.

"There's always a time to say goodbye" Henley's voice echoed through the cool evening air.  
"And tonight it is our turn to say goodbye to you" Danny said, voice and posture as steady as always . The outside world would probably never know of his injury.  
"We thank you all for your support, your endless enthusiasm and of course for being here tonight" Merritt added.  
Henley, standing in the middle, held out a hand to both Merritt and Danny, which they took.  
Standing hand in hand, they raised their hands into the air. "Thank you all for believing in us" they said in unison, "we are the Four Horsemen. Goodnight!"  
They let go of each other's hands and broke into a run toward the side of the building. The blinding lights turned on again, giving them just enough time to throw themselves through the entrance to the roof again, back inside. Outside, the projectors took over, making it appear as if they jumped off the roof and all turned into paper money.

Merritt, Henley and Danny dashed off the stairs as fast as they could. Reaching the ground floor, they ran through an unlit emergency exit, which they knew was not being covered by the FBI. Once again a sloppy job.  
They ran even faster as they came outside, going over the empty terrain behind Five Pointz. Once again, they left everything behind: their audience, the FBI and this time their mission as well.

* * *

"I thought you said you shot him?!" Dylan yelled accusatorily at Alma over the roars of the audience as the Horsemen appeared on the roof.  
"I did shoot him!" Alma replied a little offended. "Well, he looks fine to me" Dylan retorted angrily. He watched Danny perform his part with all his usual confidence and posture. Dylan and Alma were watching the Horsemen from a few floors lower, knowing there was no way to reach them from where they stood now and that there was no way to get any closer through the immense crowd.

"What are they doing?!" Alma yelled as the Horsemen had suddenly broken into a run and were moving toward the edge of the building. "They're getting away again" Dylan yelled more to himself than actually talking to Alma. He took out his gun and aimed for the running figures on the roof.  
"No!" Alma screamed frantically and hit Dylan's hand away just as he pulled the trigger. The bullet shot up toward the night sky, missing its target by miles.  
The Horsemen reached the edge of the building and as they jumped their forms changed into a million dollar-bills, which rained down on the audience below.  
Dylan turned to look at Alma. "I could have had them!" he said, "what did you do that for?!"  
Alma shrugged and with a shy smile she said: "I guess they have kind of grown on me". Dylan stared at her in utter astonishment, before a wide smile spread across his face.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place?" Jack asked a little hesitantly, as Sarah steered the car into a dimly lit parking garage. "Yup, 100%" she answered lightly, "I have been watching this guy since I arrived in New York and this is where he always parks his car. I believe the staff even reserve a parking space for him, because he always has the same one".  
"Since you came to New York?" Jack repeated, catching up on the phrase she used, "you mean you don't live here?" Sarah smiled at him, "no, not even close. New Orleans".  
"New Orleans, huh?" Jack said, tone suddenly saddening, "then you too must have heard that one of us didn't quite leave that city unscathed".  
"I think I was among the first to know that" Sarah said meaningfully. It took Jack some time to reach the conclusion. "It was you!" he said stunned, turning in his seat to have a good look at her, "you are the help Merritt told us about". Sarah nodded, "I used to be a doctor in the ER of a hospital, but I gave up that job. Quite recently actually". Jack stared at her without saying anything. "Will Danny be okay?" he asked in the end. "He will be" Sarah answered, while parking the car a little away from Thaddeus', "he will definitely feel the aftereffects of doing the show tonight and running from the FBI whilst injured, but he's a healthy young man, nothing time can't heal".  
"Good" Jack said with renewed confidence, "now let's do this".

He and Sarah quietly got out of the car.  
"Security cameras?" Jack asked in a whisper. "Only covering the entrances and the exits. That's why I drove and you lay on the floor as we entered" Sarah answered, laughing at him. Jack started unloading the bags with the money, handing several of them to Sarah.  
Being very watchful, they walked over to Thaddeus's car.  
Jack carefully gave one of the door handles a pull. Of course, the car was locked.  
"Did you really think that was going to work?" Sarah commented with a slight snort. "No" Jack answered, "but at least we now know that either his alarm isn't working or he forgot to turn it on".  
"Good one" Sarah admitted, "but it's still locked".  
"Oh no" Jack looked at her with a devilish smile, "nothing's ever locked".


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, first of all... I said that this chapter would be the final one. But when I was re-reading it, I was not entirely happy about it and ended up adding a lot of stuff. So, I cut it up to two chapters :-) So, this one is the penultimate one.  
****Enjoy reading and reviews are highly appreciated. My great thanks to anyone who has taken the time already to leave their thoughts on the story :-)**

* * *

Sarah parked the car in the shadows under a bridge behind Five Pointz. A subway rattled overhead as she peered into the darkness, looking for someone. The silhouette of a person, standing too in the cover of the shadows, could be seen. Sarah recognized him immediately and signaled him with a switch of the car's headlights.

Dylan stepped into the car, giving Sarah a broad smile. "All went well" he said. "Same on my end" she said. "Where did you leave the not-so-dead Mr. Wilder?" Dylan asked while they started driving. "Central Park" Sarah answered, "like the plan was. He should be meeting up with the others there around now".  
"They seriously scared me with that stunt..." Dylan confessed, "I honestly thought I had chased him into his death. Did he tell you why they did that?"  
"They thought the FBI would become suspicious if one of the Horsemen would not attend their final show and start a manhunt for him. Something they wanted to prevent by any means" Sarah answered.  
"They've got a point, the FBI probably _would_ have started a manhunt when one of them went 'missing' out of the blue. Good thinking on their end" Dylan spoke the words as if was speaking his thoughts out loud.

For a while, their drive over to Central Park went in a comfortable silence. Dylan stared out of the window, a look of satisfaction and a smidge of disbelief on his face. He had done it. He had pulled off the plan that had been brewing in his mind for years.  
"Thank you" he suddenly said, turning to Sarah. "What for?" she asked, not looking at him but keeping her eyes on the road. "I could never have done all this on my own" Dylan continued, "it is nice to have someone I can rely on".  
Sarah pulled the car over to the side of the street, near one of the entrances of Central Park and sat back in her seat to look at Dylan. "You don't have to thank me" she said, "I did all this with great pleasure and, actually, I'm kind of sad it's over". Dylan nodded, "Yes, me too…" He stayed silent for a while before saying "well, I'm going to scare some people..."  
"Have fun" Sarah said cheerily, "I'll call you when I'm certain the apartment is safe".  
Dylan got out of the car, waved at her in goodbye and walked into the park, to the carousel in the middle.

* * *

"Now what?" Merritt asked a little irritably. He, Henley and Danny had arrived at Central Park, at the spot the instructions had indicated. However, towHhey had run into a locked gate, preventing them from going any further. Merritt rattled the gate again, just to be sure. "It's locked" he said, turning around to the others after concluding the gate really was not opening.  
"Wait, something's moving!" Henley whispered urgently, peering through the bars of the gate. "Is it...him?" Merritt asked, joining Henley at the bars of the gate.

It was difficult to see because of the dim lighting of the path on the other side of the gate, but surely a person was walking toward them.  
"Don't I keep telling you that nothing's ever locked?" the person suddenly said. "Jack!" Henley exclaimed, recognizing him now he got closer.  
Jack reached through the bars and picked the lock easily. He swung the gate open to let his fellow Horsemen through. "Well done" Merritt said as he walked through, patting Jack on the shoulder, "faking your own death, I guess you're one of the big guys now". Jack only answered him with a proud smile.

"So, the problem of the locked gate is solved, but the question 'now what?' still applies" Danny said, "the instructions told us to go here, not what to do once we got here. So, we do whatever this guy wants and then he just dumps us in Central Park?" Henley turned around to look at Danny. She had never seen him this cranky before and they definitely had had their share of fights. But before Henley could comment, it was Jack who spoke. "Lucky for you, Danny, I have been here quite some time now and already had a chance to look around. I think I found where we need to go. Follow me".

Jack led the other three Horsemen further down the path, away from the gate.  
"I think this is where we were supposed to go" Jack said after a few minutes walk, pointing to a large tree ahead.  
"Oh brilliant, Jack" Danny said crankily, "it's a tree. Like this is the only tree in Central Park. How do you know so sure it's this one?" Henley whirled around angrily, stopping Danny, who had been walking behind her, dead in his tracks. "Will you stop it?" she whispered menacingly, but looking at him closely for the first time since their escape from Five Pointz, she felt her stomach drop. Danny looked worse than ever: he was white as a sheet, sweat was standing out on his brow and he swayed a little on his feet as he stood still.  
Forgetting all her anger at once, Henley took Danny's hand in hers. "This was all too much for you, wasn't it? You're exhausted, I can see that" Henley said concernedly. "I am not feeling too well, no" Danny said, avoiding to look at her.  
Henley knew it was very unlike him to act this vulnerable and admit to this, which worried her.  
"Just told on for a little bit longer, it's nearly over. Can you do that?" she said softly. Danny slowly shifted his gaze to her, before nodding his head, "I think I can do that…".

"This is not just any tree" Jack said as he moved to the other side of it, acting as if Danny had not just fallen out to him. Merritt, too, took a closer look at the tree. "The Lionel Shrike-tree" he said, "of course...it makes sense that we should come here"  
Henley could not explain why, but thoughtlessly pulled the card they had all received from their anonymous employer, the card with the eye on it, out of her pocket. The others silently followed her example.  
Henley formed all four their cards into one stack and held it in front of the glass casing in the tree.  
At first, nothing happened. Henley was about to accept failure, when suddenly the lights of the carousel a little behind them switched on and the music started playing softly.  
The four of them exchanged meaningful looks, for even from a distance they could see a person standing in front of the entrance to the carousel. Eager to finally find out who their anonymous employer was they hurried over there.

"What? No! You?!" Jack's astonishment was clear as he realized who was standing there.  
"Yup, it's me" Dylan said modestly. "I was _not_ expecting this" Merritt said. "Wow" was all Henley was able to bring out. Danny did not say anything, but from the look on his face it was easy to tell that he was just as astonished as the rest.  
"I've got to say 'good job'" Merritt said, "this whole thing was a masterpiece. It has never felt so good to piss people off. But, are you ever going to tell us why exactly these people?"

Dylan gave them a crooked smile. "Naturally" he said, "you all deserve to know the truth".  
Instead of beginning to tell the tale, Dylan looked thoughtfully up at the sky. "Let's get inside" he said, "it will rain soon".  
The five of them walked into the carousel building, and sure enough, the first raindrops already started to fall.  
Henley, Danny, Merritt and Jack sat down on the benches surrounding the actual carousel, while Dylan remained standing. He looked almost like a tutor addressing his apprentices. Still, Dylan did not speak straight away and for a while the only sound came from the rain now falling steadily on the roof. It was as if Dylan was searching for the right words for his story, words that would do justice to it.  
When he finally started talking, the story just poured out of him and he told the Four Horsemen everything. That Lionel Shrike was actually his father, how Thaddeus had revealed nearly all his illusions in his tv-show and how that resulted in Shrike performing the stunt that eventually led to his death. He told them of how the idea had started brewing in his mind and the decision to actually put it in motion. He clarified to them why Crédit Républicain, why Arthur, why Elkhorn and why Thaddeus.  
The Horsemen listened soundlessly. All their questions were being answered and the mysteries of the past year were revealed.

When Dylan finished speaking, it was only Jack who still sat with a look of non-understanding on his face. "Wait a minute" he said, "you did not do everything alone, right? Sarah? She helped you, didn't she?"  
Dylan smiled, "I forgot that you already know that. Actually, Henley, you are the only one who hasn't met her yet". Henley looked at the other three Horsemen in disbelief. Merritt reacted to this news as if he were jabbed with a taser. "What? Wait, my Sarah?!" he stammered, looking as if he were about to faint, "where is she?" Merritt looked around the carousel as if he expected Sarah to appear from behind one of the wooden horses. Dylan laughed out loud at Merritt 's response, "she's not here right now. She is running some final errands, but we will meet with her soon enough. I am certain you will have some questions for her".  
"I certainly have!" Merritt said incredulously, "So, it was her I saw on the street, outside our apartment here in New York, right before the FBI raid". Dylan nodded in agreement, "possible. She has been tracking Thaddeus ever since she arrived in New York, and Thaddeus has been tracking you guys ever since he arrived in New York. So, they both should have been near your apartment".

"Hold on" Henley interrupted, "who is this Sarah? What did I miss?"  
"She's my daughter, she took care of Danny after he was shot" Merritt quickly answered her question before turning to Dylan again, "since when is she helping you? She never told me anything of this!"  
"That's because I asked her not to tell you anything until this was all finished. Like myself, I wanted her to stay anonymous". Merritt nodded his head in understanding, but another question was already visible in his eyes. "How do you even know her?" he asked Dylan.

"I met Sarah for the first time a couple of years ago in Las Vegas" Dylan began, "she and her fiancée were witnesses to a robbery and I was the one taking their statements. They were a lovely couple, two of those people that just belonged together, should grow old together..." Dylan fell silent for a few seconds before continuing, "I met her again a few months later. After Katrina, every doctor, law enforcement agent and rescue worker that could be spared, was sent there. I was among them and she, living in New Orleans and being unharmed, was part of the rescue mission as well. They had already confirmed that her fiancée, Mike, had been killed. He drowned when their house flooded. We worked close together during the rescue mission, became friends and stayed in contact afterwards. That's when the next tragedy hit her... The insurance company would not pay, catching her on some tiny technicality. She lost everything because of hurricane Katrina and would not see a dime for it, nothing...".  
"Let me guess: Tressler Insurance ?" Henley said. Merritt made a sound that much resembled a sniff, but otherwise kept quiet. "Very so" Dylan continued, "I realized we were actually quite similar and decided to tell her of my history and of my plan. She, too, felt it needed to be done, so we decided to put it in motion. Well, the rest you know".  
"When did you realize she was my daughter?" Merritt asked, his eyes a little red. "Quite soon" Dylan answered, "but let me assure you, you were all carefully chosen for your skills, not family ties".

At that moment Dylan's phone rang. "Hello?" he said, picking it up and listening to the person on the other side of the line. "Perfect, we'll be there in a few minutes". He disconnected the line and looked at every Horsemen individually. "Time to go".  
They all rose to their feet. Only seconds after that, Henley felt Danny bump heavily into her shoulder. "What...?" she began, turning around, but stopped talking as soon as she looked at him. He was whiter than ever and before Henley could do anything his eyes rolled back and he sank to the ground, where he lay motionless...


	9. Chapter 9

For an excruciatingly long second, no one said anything or moved a muscle. Henley was the first to recover from the initial shock. She fell to her knees next to Danny, sobbing softly.  
Danny lay on his side, back toward Henley, his breathing sounding a little heavy. Henley gently placed her hands on his shoulder and shook him lightly. "Danny?" she whispered, "Danny, sweetie, come on, wake up". Henley's voice grew more frightened with every word she spoke. When Danny did not react in any way, Henley carefully wrapped her hands around his shoulder and rolled him slowly onto his back. He was completely limp, no power in his muscles whatsoever.

Henley looked at Danny as he lay before her and took in every detail about him. His hair - which was a little more ruffled than usual, his closed eyes, the slow rise and fall of his chest, his hands with the long, slim fingers, the way his suit jacket was buttoned closed… "Wait" Henley suddenly said, "he never buttons his suit jackets closed if he doesn't have to, he hates it…" Merritt gave Henley a little frightened look, as he moved to kneel down next to her. "Oh no" he sighed, already foreseeing what this might mean.  
Henley gently unbuttoned Danny's jacket and when she pulled it aside to reveal the white shirt beneath it, she let out a muffled sob. "Oh God" Merritt whispered while passing a hand over his face.  
A large bloodstain was visible on Danny's shirt, indicating the wound had started bleeding again and from the size of the stain, the wound was bleeding quite freely. Danny had clearly been trying to hide this fact by buttoning up his jacket.  
"The stitches, he must have torn them" Dylan said wearily, "I'll get Sarah on the phone".

Dylan moved away from them as he took out his phone. Jack remained where he was, standing a little away, looking like he was about to throw up. He usually always had an answer to everything, but not now. His mind had formed an image of what it must have looked like when Danny got shot, but now that he actually saw Danny with the effects of the injury, it looked so much worse. He was scared and he did not even try to hide it.

Meanwhile, Henley had moved so she sat on the ground near the top of Danny's head.  
She had pulled Danny's head up into her lap and was absentmindedly stroking his hair, staring into empty space. Occasionally, a silent tear rolled down her face. The bloodstain on Danny's shirt was still growing slowly.  
Merritt had walked back to Jack. "You okay?" he asked, seeing how white the young man was. Jack slowly shook his head, "no, not really… this whole situation is a bit… overwhelming". Merritt put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Come on" he said, "sit down, we don't need you going down too". Merritt steered Jack back to the benches and gently pushed him down and sat down himself as well.  
"What are we going to do now?" Jack asked, for the first time sounding as frightened as he looked. "We'll have to see what Sarah has to say" Merritt answered, "but I am certain we'll figure something out".

At that moment Dylan reached Sarah on the phone. "Hey, it's me" he said gravely, "look, we've got a problem. Danny's collapsed". Dylan was quiet after that, listening to Sarah talking on the other side of the line.  
"Okay, wait" he said to Sarah, while walking in Henley's direction, "Henley's with him. I'm putting you on speaker so you can tell her what you want her to do". Dylan knelt down next to Henley, phone in his hand. "We're ready, Sarah, go on" he said.  
"Hi Henley" Sarah's voice sounded from the phone, "I know we haven't met yet, my name is Sarah. There are a couple of things I need to know to be able to figure out what state Danny is in and I need you to help me with that". "Alright" Henley's voice sounded weak, yet determined.

"Okay, firstly, feel his pulse and count out loud with the rhythm of his heartbeat" Sarah said. Henley reached forward and grabbed Danny's hand and gently pressed her fingers against his limp wrist. She didn't start counting right away, but for a few seconds just felt the reassuring feeling of Danny's pulse against her fingers.  
"One, two, three, four…" she started counting in a steady rhythm. She got to around 60 before Sarah stopped her. "Thank you" Sarah's voice sounded from the phone again, "his heart rate is a little elevated, yet steady, nothing to worry about given his injuries". Henley stopped feeling Danny's pulse, but kept holding his hand in hers. "What can you tell me about his breathing?" Sarah asked.  
"Uhm… regular" Henley began, "but it sounds a little bit as if it hurts him to breath, it sounds a bit heavy".  
Sarah did not respond to that fact and merely asked the next question. "How's the gunshot wound?" she asked. "It's bleeding again" Henley answered, "quite a bit".  
"We haven't had a look at the actual wound" Dylan cut in, "but he probably tore his stitches".  
"For the wound to start bleeding like that again, he must have" Sarah said.

"So, what's your verdict?" Dylan asked, after Sarah had asked several more questions. They could all hear Sarah sigh over the phone, apparently thinking hard. "His physical condition appears not to be too bad" she said, "I am not happy that he tore his stitches, but I should be able to fix that. He probably didn't take it easy with that wound, like I told him to. So, my guess is that he is just extremely fatigued, overexerted himself. The body starts protecting itself from any more damage, thus the collapse".  
"What do you need us to do?" Dylan asked. "I know it's not going to be easy, but I need you to get him to the apartment. I need to re-attend to the wound and he needs to rest. And with rest I mean in an actual bed, not on a cold stone floor. Otherwise you'll probably be able to add pneumonia to the list quite soon". Dylan passed a hand over his face, not looking forward to the task ahead. "We'll be there as soon as possible" he finally said determinedly, "we certainly cannot stay here in the carousel either".

The line disconnected. Dylan exchanged looks with Merritt and Jack. "How are we going to move him?" Dylan asked no one in particular.  
"Well, you could ask me to walk". Danny's voice sounded worn out and slurred. No one had noticed him waking up, not even Henley, who was still holding his hand and cradling his head. Henley gave a little cry, "Danny!"  
His eyes fluttered open and close a few times before he managed to keep them open and focus his gaze on Henley's face. "Hi" he breathed out, looking into her tearful eyes, "I appear to have blacked out". Henley made a noise that sounded like a mixture of a laugh and a sob. "You're an idiot, you know that? How long have you known that wound was bleeding again?" she whispered angrily. "Ever since we got to the park" Danny said weakly, "and to answer your first question: always have been an idiot". Henley didn't say anything to this, but simply bent forward and placed a kiss on his forehead.

Dylan rose to his feet and Jack and Merritt followed his example. Jack looked a little better now that Danny was showing signs of life again. "How long's the walk to the apartment?" Merritt asked, looking like he had a plan. "10 minutes, why?" Dylan answered. "Cause we're going for a walk" Merritt said. "Okay Danny-boy, rise and shine" Merritt continued, making his way over to him, "I'm sure you cannot walk independently, so Jack and myself will be so kind to assist you". "Appreciate that" Danny answered softly.  
Henley gently helped Danny sit upright and eventually stand up. Merritt and Jack each swung one of Danny's arms around their necks to support him. Danny still looked like he could pass out again any minute, but at least he was on his feet again for now.  
"You going to be alright?" Henley asked him worriedly, as he leaned heavily on both his companions. "I don't know" Danny answered honestly, "but I have to do this. It's the last thing today I actually _have_ to do". Henley nodded her head. "Alright, guys, let's go" Dylan said.

It took Danny all of his willpower to make his feet move, instead of collapsing to the floor again. Black spots constantly blurred his vision, as they slowly walked through the park. He was glad for the support of Merritt and Jack, cause without that he definitely would not make it to the apartment. 

* * *

It was only after they had reached the apartment, that Dylan realized how lucky they had been not to have run in to anyone. They could always have used the excuse that Danny was extremely drunk and that they were bringing him home, but it still could have led to awkward questions from passers-by.

As soon as they had stepped into the elevator of the apartment building to go to the right floor, Danny lost consciousness again. Luckily, Jack and Merritt were holding onto him tightly, so he did not fall to the floor.  
Once they had dragged him into the apartment, they laid him down on a bed in one of the apartment's three bedrooms.

Sarah and Henley were the only ones that remained with him, while the others retreated to the living room. Sarah quickly attended to Danny's wound, while Henley nervously watched her. She removed the remains of the old stitches, cleaned the wound and stitched it up again. Danny did not move a muscle during the entire procedure, he was deeply unconscious this time.  
Once she was done, Sarah sat back in her chair and looked at Henley. "If he's lucky he'll be up and around again tomorrow. Calmly, of course" Sarah said, seeing the question burn in Henley's eyes. "Thank you" Henley said, gratefulness showing clearly.  
"I can see that he means a lot to you and that you mean a lot to him. That's precious and you should hold on to it dearly. Cause it can be taken away from you before you even realize you had it". With those words Sarah stood up and left Henley alone with Danny.

The moment Sarah set foot into the living room, she was face-to-face with Merritt. "Dad…" she began, but Merritt merely raised a hand to stop her. "I know I haven't been the best of dads" he started, "I haven't been around for a large part of your life and I'm sorry for that…"  
"Don't, you don't have to be sorry" Sarah interrupted, grabbing both his hands. "I just want to say" Merritt continued, "that I love you and that… I'm extremely proud of you". Sarah looked into his eyes and smiled. "No matter you think, to me you are the world's best dad". 

* * *

You never wake up the moment you open your eyes. Subconsciously, you are already registering things before you realize you are awake.  
Danny realized he was waking up when the pain to his stomach returned, along with a pounding headache. He deliberately did not open his eyes, not wanting to anger his already aching head any further. He heightened his other senses to try and figure out where he was. He could feel soft blankets under his hands and his head was resting on an equally soft pillow. He could hear the faint sounds of traffic and the indistinct chatter of people from outside. He smelled something being cooked, most likely some sort of pasta.

Suddenly, close to his left ear, he heard the sound of a page being turned. Danny slowly allowed his head to fall to the side and opened his eyes a crack, his curiosity taking the best of him.  
Sarah was sitting on a chair beside the bed he was lying in, a book - that easily contained a 1000 pages, open in her lap. She still wore her engagement ring, Danny now noticed.

"Where am I?" Danny asked softly. "Dylan's apartment, across the street from Central Park. Everyone's here" Sarah answered. "Oh, right" Danny said softly, remembering now.  
"Tell me: what part of me telling you to be careful with that wound didn't you understand?" Sarah continued, her tone serious now. Danny fully opened his eyes to look at her. Sarah's expression was unreadable.  
"I'm sorry" he mumbled a little embarrassed. He was surprised when Sarah suddenly smiled broadly at him. "It's not like I didn't expect it" she said. "How bad is it?" Danny asked wearily. "You tore up most of the stitches" Sarah answered, closing her book, "but mostly, you overexerted yourself. You did more yesterday than your body could take at that moment, therefore you passed out". Sarah checked her watch, "you've been out now for about 16 hours".  
"Fantastic" Danny groaned, passing a hand over his face. "I re-did most of the stitches" Sarah continued, "if you really take your rest this time, you'll be fine".

Sarah handed Danny some painkillers, which he gratefully took from her. The pain from his wound he could handle, but his head was killing him.  
Danny gradually sat upright in bed. "Where's Henley?" he finally asked. "She sat here, right next to your bed, all night and a large part of today, until she herself could barely stay awake. I took over after that, as you can see" Sarah answered. Danny did not respond. Had he really been that blind? No matter how many fights they had had in the past, Henley still cared about him, even loved him maybe. And suddenly he realized that he felt that way too.

Sarah stood up from her chair, pulling Danny out of his reverie. "You hungry?" she asked, "we're having dinner in a few minutes. Dylan makes a mean spaghetti bolognese".  
"Starving " Danny answered, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and prepared to carefully stand up. "Oh, wait" he suddenly said, eyes sparkling mischievously, "I am allowed to move around the apartment, right? Or doesn't that quality as taking it easy?" Sarah gave a snort, "no, that's fine". She turned around and made for the door, intending to give Danny some privacy while he changed.  
"Dylan told us your story" Danny said before she could walk out the door. Sarah slowly turned around to look at him. "Yeah, he did, didn't he?" she said softly. "You don't sound too pleased with that" Danny said carefully. She shrugged, "he can tell you if he wants to. After all, to him it's part of the reason why he decided to execute his plan and why he asked me to assist him with it. It's just that I don't like people thinking that I need sympathy, just because of what life threw at me". Danny looked at her with a serious expression on his face. "You never stopped wearing your engagement ring" he said. Sarah looked down at her hands and shook her head. "No" she finally said sadly, "I just cannot put myself to it. It's a harsh reminder of the things I had. It taught me to seize the day, because everything you have can be gone in a heartbeat". With that she turned around and left Danny alone. 

* * *

As soon as Danny emerged from the bedroom and stepped into the modernly furnished living room, Henley flung herself around his neck. Like before she unintentionally pushed into his wound, but this time he did not comment on it or push her away. On the contrary, he pulled her into a tight embrace.  
"Don't you ever scare me again like you did last night" Henley said, breaking the embrace. She tried to sound angry, but failed miserably at it. "I promise I won't" Danny said, venturing a quick kiss on Henley's lips. He feared she might be horrified, but instead she smiled lovingly at him.  
"Hey, look who's on his feet again!" Dylan called from the kitchen, breaking up the moment between Danny and Henley, "and you're right on time for dinner".

The six of them sat down at the kitchen table for dinner, looking like a completely mismatched family.  
"So, what happens next?" Jack asked. "You four should lay low for a little while, I think" Dylan answered, "but the FBI believes they caught the fifth horseman when they arrested Thaddeus. They believe he is the real mastermind behind it all and see you merely as his puppets. They're likely to close the case with Thaddeus's conviction, which is nearly inevitable".  
"And you are helping the FBI think that Thaddeus really is the fifth Horseman and that we are merely doing his bidding?" Merritt asked mockingly. "Of course" Dylan answered with a smirk. His face suddenly turned serious again as he continued, "as for you four, it all depends on yourselves. There's much more wrong and injustice in this world that can and needs to be righted".

Danny, Henley, Merritt and Jack exchanged questioning looks. Jack was the first to speak. "I'm in" he said. Merritt nodded, "I feel the Horsemen have more work to do". Henley agreed, "absolutely".  
Everyone looked at Danny in anticipation. "Well, once I'm in one piece again, I'm definitely in".  
"Wonderful!" Dylan said enthusiastically. His gaze focused on Sarah now, "and you?"  
"Of course" she answered, "like I would say no to that".  
"So, I guess it's on to the next mission than" Dylan said. He raised his glass in a way of toasting. "To the Horsemen" he said. The others followed his example and raised their glasses as well, speaking in unison. "To the Horsemen!" 

* * *

**Thanks all again for reading! :-) This was the last chapter. I hope I was able to give it a satisfactory end for you all... Thank you all too for sticking with the story through all the chapters!  
****Still, all reviews are appreciated! :-)**


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